Farewell Blog 😢

To be honest, this is the hardest blog I have to write this year. I don’t really feel much in the beginning of this school year. I still remembered talking to my friend about being seniors is such a long way for us when I was a freshmen, but here I am. And because it’s ending with online, I start to feel kind of empty. I feel like we’ve lost a lot of time to spend with each others. I’ve been here at ICS for 7 years, and I will say that I enjoyed every moment here. I feel like ICS is a very welcoming community including teachers, staffs, and students. After all the past years, ICS class of 2021 means a lot to me. We’ve been through a lot together, and I’m afraid to not get this kind of friendship in the future. Everyone made everything so special, and I feel sad that we are leaving each other. Since there are a lot of things that we missed because of covid, I feel like I still need more time with everyone. I realized that our class have missed a lot of fun times together and I hope that it was better.

I will say that I was very down about how our senior year is going to end, but I really can’t do anything much a part from accepting it and hoping that we will see each other again in graduation. As typing this now, I do get a little bit teary and I might also get that while I’m reading. I will say that I feel that I’m very lucky to be here at ICS and to know everyone here. Even though my senior year didn’t go as smooth as I expected, I still feel all the strong bonds in our hearts. I feel lucky that I get to hang out with more people and spend time with them this year. I can truly feel that everyone is there for me. To be honest, this is seriously my hardest good bye, and it’s the good bye that I don’t want to say. But good bye everyone!

Damage and Redemption

From Mr. Mark’s TED talk, I’ve found majority of the lessons very inspirational. In Book 3 in Cry, The Beloved Country, we see the ending of book by Stephen letting go off everything on the mountain. I really like how the book teaches us to face the suffering. What we should respond to evil and suffering by facing it and over come it with goodness and love. In the book, Stephen chooses to face the problems and deal with it. He never give up even though there’s something going on with his family. It might be challenging for some family to overcome this problem and move on, but not for Stephen. When he knows that he tries his best and it’s all that he can do, he tells himself to move on to the brighter future. If he keeps focusing on the pain that he has to deal with, his community won’t ever improve.

Another lesson that stood up to me is that forgiveness and grace have to heal so much pain in the world. This is something that I think relate to the lesson above. A lot of the time suffering comes from guilt or some kind of scar in the mind. I think we can be mad at something, but not letting it go will ruin your life. In the book, Jarvis could’ve still be mad at Stephen and what his son did to his family. However, he chooses to let it go and give mercy and grace to Stephen and helps him build church. And same as Napoleon, he can choose to be mad with the fact that his dad was killed, but he still let it go and help Stephen to improve the village.

I think both of these lessons can relate to real life problems. There’s a lot of times when I’m mad or sad about something, but learning to let it go is very important. I always tell myself to do that because sticking to the bad thoughts doesn’t make anything better. I have to understand the nature of the world and move on. I will tell myself to think positive even it’s something that I seriously don’t like. I will tell myself that all the problems come to teach me something. I won’t grow without dealing with problems.

Internal Issue

The topic of mental illness is something big, but people often overlooked. The problem of mental illness is something common in the society. However, people often viewed it as something weird. Mental illness affect 19% of the adult population, 46% of teenagers and 13% of children each year. And a lot of these people got worst because of stigma, when someone is viewed negatively because of mental illness, and how the society judge them. There are only about half of those people struggling with mental illness that actually get proper treatment, and stigma is also one of the reason. We are living in the society that people judge and discriminate people because of mental illness.

There are many types of mental illness, and the most common mental health condition are mood disorders and anxiety disorders. Common mood disorders are depression and bipolar that affect at least 10% of adults each year. And common anxiety disorders affect at least 18% of adults each year and examples are post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder (panic attacks), and phobias. Over the past years, the topic and perception of mental illness improved, but the stigma is also still powerful. Stigma not only lessen the number of people seeking for treatment, but also lessen the resource for proper treatment.

It would be nice if people are more open about this and try to understand them. Mental illness is just like any other illness, no one wants to experience it. And by discriminating them or stigmatize them is not going to make anything better. We need to realize that people struggling with mental illness is also human. They have the right to be treated fairly and equally. However, society always bring another side of it. A lot of people experience discrimination and it can be seen often, especially in younger group. So keep in mind that mental illness is something you should be aware of and should be concerned about.

“Answering Che’s Calls to Action”

I really like Che’s challenge to students to leave their privilege and comfort behind and start go and find out the reality. I think I am a child who did not see the true reality of the world yet. Looking back from the past 18 years, I don’t think I’ve ever experience something that can be considered as extremely bad. I once heard my parents talking about how my younger brother complain about the food he’s eating. My parents said was because they choose the best for us, so he never try something that’s bad. And that’s why he doesn’t know what he has now is already good. From this, it shook me and made me think back to my life. I complain about work, basic things, and even about life, without realizing that I already have a good life.

For me, going to community service trips teach me a lot. It’s probably the time I see people from the other side that I don’t usually see. Those trips are actually my go and find out time of the year. Throughout the school trips, I didn’t know the community that well. Most of the time, I will just work and complete the tasks that I was assigned. I do find that SALT trips are more fun than tired because there are friends there. However, I actually learned a lot from my capstone project. This was the first time that I actually learn about the community by myself. I have to do research on the communities I wanted to do and talk to them about my project. So this was the project that I really know what it is.

I think it is important to learn about these people. I am not the only one in this world and my friends or family are not the only one here. There are billions of people in this world and none of us is the same. When we have enough, we should also help others. I don’t think the world is fair and there’s nothing we can do about it. So I think by exploring life condition of others are important. If we understand each other, we can live together happily.

travel and tourism

Travels are not essential in anyone’s lives, but it opens up new experiences to people. You will surely learn or see something new every time you travel. I think travel is important because it’s a good thing that you should do once in your life. It’s a kind of relaxation and amusement that will take you away from reality for a while.

I think what a good tourist should have is respect. It is the basic of what humanity should have, but sometimes people can be disrespectful. There are times that we don’t actually intend to be disrespectful, but these things can happen all the time while traveling. I think the basics respect that we all should have is to respect their culture. For me, I don’t think we can understand every culture in the world, but we should try to stay quiet if we are not sure. We might say something that’s mocking the other cultures’ appropriation and it’s rude. From my experience, I think the best thing to do while travel is to observe around. I will see things in different perspectives each time or even each day.

I think I’ve been to many travels in my life. I was lucky to go to America for a short summer school. At that time I was about 11 years old and it was my first time traveling without my parents. By living in my parents all my life and especially living in a ” sabai sabai” or chill country like Thailand, time is something that I often neglect. So American people are very strict about time and being late. After two months staying there, I learned many new cultures that I’ve never experienced.

Many Sides of a City

Shinjuku, one of the most fascinating highlight of Tokyo, is known for all kinds of entertainment. The city full of people all around the world walking through the center of the peaceful city, Tokyo. Shinjuku is located at the center of Tokyo. With Japanese culture, people are more likely to travel by public transportation, such as train. The moment you walk out of the train door, you will never see an empty space. People are all packed up especially in rush hours. It is also known for the busiest train station recorded by Guinness World record. After a while of pushing and pulling, you will now enter the real fantasy. For all the day travelers, Shinjuku contains at least 20 malls in the area, including the famous discount flagship store Don quijote. The moment you walked in, you can feel that you are being pulled in deeper into the store. And the moment you realized it, the money in your pockets already to agree on to escape. For all night travelers, this district contains all kinds of entertainment that you need. There are tons of claw machines all around the street or you can choose to go to one of the big arcade areas.

With all the fun around the city, Shinjuku is also known for having Yakuza or gangsters around. People may not know that there are actually these gangsters walking around, because most of the time they are just acting like a normal person. However, it is very dangerous if you have owed something or did something bad to them. From a true experience, my parents have seen a girl getting chased by a group of yakuza while we are staying at a hotel in the Shinjuku district. As some might know, conflicts among gangsters can happen at anytime. Travelers might have to be aware of popping into the middle of their fight without knowing.

No way out reflection

Just to be very honest, I don’t know exactly why suffering exist. I think it’s something that already exist that is uncontrollable, so no one can stop it. The best that people can do is to deal with their own feelings because it’s not under their control. Just like Ort in the book, he always questioned why he doesn’t get that chance to be born in a wealthy family. In the end, he can’t do anything else other than live with it. And I don’t think there’s anyone to blame for because blaming won’t change anything. I understand Ort’s state because he’s still young and it is very hard to face this circumstance since young. I think blaming is just a sign to show discourage from living and sometimes letting it out or blaming someone can be a good choice to release stress. Just from what I learned in world religion, there’s a theory that mentioned that religions were created from people who can’t deal with their problems, so they started to find something to be there for them. I think that might be true because spiritual things are there for us to do something that will satisfy us. For example, people might praise gods to feel that there’s someone there to protect or they might blame the gods when they did something wrong.

And in the topic of karma, I think it’s good that you get what you do wrong. It is important to realize what you did even though it is hard. People won’t realize what they did wrong until they experienced it. And I truly believe that bad people will get their punishment even when no one realize it. Even though the world is full of injustice, there’s a lot of time when people don’t know what those bad people received. I’ve heard that those karma doesn’t have a specific coming time, but they will come maybe this life or maybe the after life. I think we can be mad about the injustice or bad people, but we should also get over it after a while. Having negative thoughts in our mind won’t be a positive thing.

In my opinion, this is a very emotional book to read. This might be because it’s the book that I can really relate to my everyday life. I might see someone like characters in the book just by looking out the car window. It is as simple as that. And problems in the book is something that have been going around for years. I don’t want to blame anyone, but I feel bad for those who have to face those circumstances. After reading this, I feel so grateful about my life. The problems or hardship that I complained are not even comparable to that of them.

World War II poetry analysis

Poem by F.R. Scott

When I see the falling bombs

Then I see defended homes.

Men above and men below

Die to save the good they know.

Through the wrong the bullets prove

Shows the bravery of love.

Pro and con have single stem

Half a truth dividing them.

Between the dagger and the breast

The bond is stronger than the beast.

Prison, ghetto, flag and gun

Mark the craving for the One.

Persecution’s cruel mouth

Shows a twisted love of truth.

Deeper than the rack and rope

Lies the double human hope.

My good, your good, good we seek

Though we turn no other cheek.

He who slays and he who’s slain

Like in purpose, like in pain.

In this poem, the first thing that comes into mind while reading this is that the poem is in the form of couplet end rhyme. The last word of every two lines will rhyme with each other, and the two lines talk about one thing and the next talk about the other topic. The next thing I think stood out to me was that he uses a lot of comparison in the poem such as men above and men below, deeper than the rack and rope, and pros and cons. He play with a lot of words with the same consonant sound and uses repeating phrase like he who slays and he who’s slain.

The meaning of this poem in my opinion is about the lost that people have to risk for. When they see the bomb, it can be sad and terrified. But they know because they are here right now, their homes are safe. In the verse men above and men below, I think he means the men that’s standing preparing and the dead men know that they die because of a good deed. We are doing this to show the bravery of love. The wounds from war create a bond that everyone can feel. In the deeper side, this is everyone’s hope. It’s good that we are safe, those men that died are for the good purpose.

In my opinion I really like this poem. I think it is an easy understanding poem that can be represent any war in the world and not just the World War II. This is something that happens a lot during wars and I think it’s very deep for some people. I really like how he emphasized the fact that those men are doing for a better result. They might see bombing, but they are protecting homes and the countries. They know that they are human’s hope. The language of this poem make it sound more interesting to me because the words and the layout is very catchy. Even though this is a good poem, it is still depressing to hear about wars and what those men have to give for a victory.

Nationalism

In my opinion, the loving for their country is what everyone should do, but it should be just enough that it won’t be chaotic. A lot of time we see pictures of nationalists being too extreme about their lovings and that makes a lot of people dislike them. What I really like about nationalists is they really love their country no matter what. Like I said, we should love our country, but within the limit because a lot of people nowadays don’t appreciate their countries at all. Many times I see people appreciating other countries more and putting too much hate on your own country. I think having some patriotism is good because people tend to overlook the importance of their country. Like what I mentioned in my blogs, I think what a lot of people do when they become successful is they left the past that brought them up. I always hear people say my country is bad and I think this country is better and why is my country not this good. This shows me how they really forget the importance of it. Don’t expect people to admire your country because you don’t even recognise its worth.

What I think is bad about being patriotism is that people get too extreme about it. I think some people go too far and it exceed the limit. I value options a lot, and a lot of nationalists don’t agree with that. I think respecting other people’s opinion is what everyone should do no matter what. And a lot of times when those nationalists are not happy with other people, they decide to use violence. In my opinion, I think they use violence as a protection from their fear. I think deep in their heart they know that most of the time their opinion is not right, and they choose violence to make it seem like they win.

The War of ideas

In the topic of ideas, I don’t think we should set any standard to any ideas. My definition of ideas is unlimited because this is all opinion based and there’s no right or wrong answer. I would say the idea of fundamentalism is somehow dangerous because sometimes those freedom of thoughts that people get can go too far. But whatsoever, those are their opinion about the world and people should then respect their thoughts. I think by setting “ideological values” will not do anything better because people will still want their freedom to choose like before. This can be seen in many Asian families, they will set a standard of jobs that their kids should be when they grow up. As you know everyone is born differently and each one have their own speciality. By limiting the possibilities of jobs that they should do is like forcing the world to a narrower perspective. And the world will never grow if everyone is doing the same thing.

Like what I’ve said in class about the “modern” or “progressive” values, I don’t think that those are something that changed a lot from the past. In terms of environment, yes it did improved a lot, but what about in term of the mind. Did people change or improve with the “modern” world? The answer would be yes, but did it really change until the point that it’s good enough to be called modern? I would say no because I think the improvement is just people start to adapt to the new things coming to their lives, but the mindset of people is still similar to the past. I would considered a true modernise world when everyone is truly equal and they can express themselves to the fullest.